Family northern lights in Kemijärvi: which evening takes the children
Illustration photo: the aurora over a snowy field in Finland, not in Kemijärvi.
The short answer
If your group has four adults, the resort's kota or heated-sleigh evening is the family choice: warm clothing lent, a child fare for under-fifteens and nothing to pay for children of three and under. A family with only two adults should ask the resort whether other guests are booked, or choose the small campfire evening, which takes up to four people per booking but prints no child fare. The six-hour hunt by car excludes babies under one.
Two things decide an aurora evening for a family in Kemijärvi: whether a child fare is printed, and how many adults the evening needs.
The resort: child fares, four adults
The resort’s kota and heated-sleigh evenings charge half the adult fare for children under fifteen and nothing for children of three and under, and both lend thermal clothing. Both also state a minimum of four adults.1 For two families travelling together that is no obstacle; for one family of two adults it can be.
The small campfire evening
A local company’s campfire evening takes up to four people per booking, and a family of four fits in one booking. Its page prints one price per person and nothing about ages or clothing.2
The long hunt
The six-hour hunt by car lends warm clothing and turns away babies under one. It sets no other age, so whether six hours at night suits an older child is a judgement the listing leaves to you.
Adult prices and how each evening travels are compared on the best northern lights tour in Kemijärvi.
Tours you can book
A small-group evening by a campfire, watching for the aurora
Run by Lappi Creative
From €100per person
Length2.5 h
See it on the operator’s site(opens in a new tab)An aurora evening in a heated sleigh towed by a snowmobile
Run by Jauri Resort
From €115per person
Length2.5 h
See it on the operator’s site(opens in a new tab)
Questions people ask
Can children drive on the snowmobile evening?
Not as the resort prices it. Its snowmobile evening prices children aged four to fifteen as passengers sitting in a sledge towed behind, at 76 euros, and prices adults as drivers, two to a machine or alone. Children of three and under come free with an adult. The page does not print the driver's minimum age or licence rule, so ask the resort before a teenager counts on the handlebars.
What if a child is ill on the day?
It depends on where you booked. The kota evening and the hunt by car are sold on a booking platform with free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start, which covers an illness noticed the evening before but not one on the day. The resort's own shop and the campfire company print no cancellation terms, so ask for them in writing before you pay.
What happens to a family of two adults and two children at the resort?
The resort's pages list adult and child fares separately and ask for a minimum of four adults, so read it as four adults besides any children and confirm when you book. If other adults are booked on your date, you join them; if not, the evening may not run. Ask when you book rather than after, and keep the campfire evening or the hunt by car as a fallback, since neither prints that rule.